


Tertiary Star System

by Starlithorizon



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, the do is hinted at
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 16:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1233988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starlithorizon/pseuds/Starlithorizon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were three bodies locked in orbit by gravity and love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tertiary Star System

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LarissaFae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarissaFae/gifts).



> A fic for the ever lovely LarissaFae! She requested a relationship between Cecil, Carlos, and Dana, and I hope I did it justice!

When she found her way to their plane or their world or whatever it was that differentiated Night Vale from where she was, Dana fell heavily into Cecil's arms. She'd already been to see her mother and brother of course, but she had whispered to the Scientist and the Voice that those two were not her only family. That had put quiet embers of happiness in Carlos's heart and in Cecil's chest and they had held her and stroked her hair until she stopped shaking. And if those embers had become fire along their skin, well, who was going to say no? They had chosen this, all three of them with very verbal and very enthusiastic consent.

The fire had become embers again, glowing and warm and soft in three sternums so the same fire burned within all three.

This had left Carlos concerned and verging on distraught for a little while. He'd always thought that he was gay, with only passing attraction for women, but there she was, the lovely Dana whom he loved dearly and just as much as he did Cecil. She was beautiful, all big eyes and soft smiles, soft belly and fine-boned hands a marked contrast to Cecil. She kept her hair cropped short, a cumulus cloud she often wore coupled with a flower behind her ear. Her cheeks were soft and round, her lips full, her voice delicate and soft.

Cecil had those cheekbones he worked to accentuate, high and fine beneath his dark eyes. He wore his hair long and straight and often braided, and Carlos had spent a great deal of time slowly combing his fingers through that hair. He was lines and planes and angles with sudden curves that smoothed into rolling hills under Carlos's hands.

Both bodies and beings were beautiful, and both loved him, and he loved both, and each loved the other. There were quiet little touches shared between everyone, little kisses on foreheads and brushes against arms. The scientist felt that he had never been so loved as he was with Cecil and Dana, and he tried every second to return that love they so freely have him. He kissed Cecil awake on slow mornings and made Dana tea instead of coffee. They went to dinner and giggled freely over everything and collapsed in skin and warmth when they got home. They built a life that Carlos had never expected, sweet and rich and wonderful. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but he had long since learned the danger of perfection and the glory in flaws.

On one green-tinged Sunday morning in the spring, all three of them lay in bed, sunlight warming their skin and fingers drifting through hair. Dana had become theirs and they had become Dana's over a year ago, and here they were. Alive and happy and glowing. They were glowing a bit too literally for Carlos's taste, but his results said that it was safe enough and would fade within a few days.

"You guys and the sunlight are making it so hard to sleep in," Cecil groaned, scrunching his eyes shut and pulling on Carlos's hair so slightly. Carlos chuckled, and he knew the sound rumbled in Dana's ears.

"You wouldn't feel the need to sleep in till one if you didn't get up at noon every day," Carlos pointed out with a grin. Dana giggled and Cecil reached across the scientist to poke her in the belly. She giggled even more at that, prompting laughter from the sulking radio host.

"How could you laugh at my plight, Dana? After all we've been through! Back in my day, being an intern meant never laughing at your boss," Cecil said, but his words were tinted with his grin.

"I'm not your intern anymore," she pointed out. "And you weren't my boss: Station Management was." Dana had left the radio station to join the ranks of Leann Hart, her heart in writing. She also figured it was prudent not to intern for one of the men she was in a relationship with. She said it was a conflict of interest, and Cecil absolutely understood. Even if there was no money to be had at the _Daily Journal_ , it was something she loved. She loved it nearly as much as teasing Cecil during press conferences, which she loved just as much as teasing Carlos during interviews.

"Let's not get swept up in semantics," Cecil drawled, spinning a lazy hand through the air above Carlos. Laughter filled up the little room as Cecil poked each of them in the belly, calling them traitors and collapsing into giggles himself.

Sunday mornings like these were Carlos's favorites. They didn't get this every week, but they tried. Sometimes, they lay like a braid for a while then went out for breakfast, for pancakes and sugary syrup kissed off of bowing lips back at home. Sometimes, they stayed and made their own breakfast, three bodies orbiting in a small kitchen.

During this particular spring morning, with the windows thrown open and a breeze that smelled like warm earth and resiny sage making the curtains flutter, they finally got put of bed and made getting dressed quite the mission. There was teasing and kissing and even a bit of tickling, and Cecil played dirty sometimes and joked about betrayal when they did the same with him.

It was unconventional, certainly, but it was the kind of beautiful and incandescent that gave the earth life. It was the sun, a binary system, a tertiary system. Was that a term? Whether or not there were tertiary systems in the universe, three stars weaving together in a system of shared light and gravity, he was sure that that was what they had.

Sometimes, when the night was especially dark and thick with the sound of helicopter blades chopping at the air, Carlos lay awake with two bodies and thought on how lucky he was. Sometimes, when the sun refused to set at a decent hour and when time was just hideously wrong, Carlos smiled at the broken dusk and thought on how loved he was. Sometimes, on mornings like this when spring was heavy on the air with pollen and beginnings, Carlos held tightly to the people he loved so dearly, shining with their love, one star in their tertiary system, imbuing life in this desert.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written polyamory before, so I hope this isn't too cheesy a depiction!


End file.
